OSR: WWE WrestleMania 6 Review (1990)

OSR: WWE WrestleMania 6 Review

Back in 1990, WrestleMania was about to air its sixth edition. And to mark this event, it went north of the border to Toronto, Canada. The venue was the SkyDome, which had being open at that point less than a year. The event was marked as “The Ultimate Challenge”, where The Ultimate Warrior collided with Hulk Hogan with two championships at stake. But this event also marked the final televised WWE match for Andre the Giant. This is the WWE WrestleMania 6 Review…

The show opened with a very Doctor Who themed promo, which Vince McMahon narrated highlighting the main event of champion versus champion, Hulk Hogan versus The Ultimate Warrior. We then went inside the SkyDome to an excitable crowd with our commentary team, Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura. They emphasized the importance of the main event, before we headed down to the ring with Robert Goulet singing a rendition of “Oh Canada”.

1. Koko B. Ware vs. Rick Martel

Koko made his way to the ring first, dancing around like an idiot but what was in line with his character. Martel then made his way to the ring, and displayed great arrogance through his character as “The Model”.

Martel started the match aggressively, but Koko was able to use his quickness to mount a comeback. After a short match, and not much happening Martel picked up the win when Koko tapped out to the Boston Crab. Pitiful and uninteresting opening match.

The Connection were introduced with Heenan receiving an incredible heel reaction before Demolition came out to a so-so reaction. Both teams started brawling inside the ring. Eventually, Haku was in there with both Ax and Smash tagging in and out regularly.

Throughout the entire match, there was limited physical involvement from Andre with Haku doing most of the work. Eventually, Demolition were able to pick up the win and capture the titles. After the match, Heenan berated Andre before resulting in him.

This lead to Andre attacking both Heenan and Andre before leaving the arena to a tremendous reaction. This was Andre’s last ever televised WWE match and whilst he wasn’t involved very much, it was nice to see him leave on a high – a fan favourite. So-so match with a bittersweet conclusion.

Winner: Demolition, to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship

Match Rating: 1.5 out of 5.0 Stars

3. Hercules vs. Earthquake (w/ Jimmy Hart)

Hercules and Earthquake both made their way to the ring, and Earthquake was dominant over Hercules throughout the entire match. This was pretty awful to be honest, but thankfully it was over quickly. Earthquake picked up the win following an Avalanche. There was nothing really to say about it.

Winner: Earthquake

Match Rating: 0.5 out of 5.0 Stars

4. Mr. Perfect (w/ The Genius) vs. Brutus Beefcake

The Genius introduced Perfect before Beefcake came out which seemed to take a lifetime. From Perfect something credible can be expected but Beefcake, mediocre was wishful thinking.

After several minutes of very timid action, Beefcake was able to pick up the win before deciding to give a haircut. It was The Genius who ended up having a haircut to a nice reaction.

Winner: Brutus Beefcake

Match Rating: 1.0 out of 5.0 Stars

5. Bad News Brown vs. Roddy Piper

We were shown the buildup between the two beginning from the Royal Rumble 1990. We then went to Okerlund with Piper, who was painted half black.

Bad News was in the ring, and Piper made his way out to a great reaction. Piper’s appearance did generate some laughs nevertheless and infuriated Bad News a bit. The match was essentially a brawl which ended in a double count-out. This was very much a nothing match.

As both team got to the ring, The Bolsheviks attempted to sing the Russian National Anthem. They were quickly attacked by Jim and Bret, with Nikolai being taken out of the ring. After some double teaming, Bret was able to pick up the win over Zhukov in a very quick and pointless match.

Winner: The Hart Foundation

Match Rating: 0.5 out of 5.0 Stars

7. The Barbarian (w/ Bobby Heenan) vs. Tito Santana

This match was another filler material for the card, but is seemed by this point Tito Santana was the jobber of WrestleMania. This match was essentially to get The Barbarian over some more, as he picked up a very quick win.

Savage and Sherri made their way to the ring first, in an entrance which seemingly took a lifetime but suited their characters perfectly. Rhodes and Sapphire then came out, and introduced Miss Elizabeth to a thunderous reaction.

The match quickly got underway with Savage being dominant over Rhodes. A continual play was made about the weight of Sapphire by Jesse. Eventually, Rhodes and Sapphire were able to pick up the win when Sherri was pinned by Sapphire. This was a very mediocre match.

The Express made their way to the ring first before The Rockers came out to a nice reactio. The Express were fairly dominant in the early moments, with the interference from Fuji aiding them in the match.

Eventually, the Express were able to pick up the win after Jannetty was counted out. This was following some dirty tactics by Fuji in another timid and mediocre match.

Winner: The Orient Express, via Count-out

Match Rating: 1.0 out of 5.0 Stars

10. Dino Bravo (w/ Jimmy Hart and Earthquake) vs. Jim Duggan

Bravo was in the ring first, and was soon followed by Duggan. The match began very quickly with Duggan taking it to Bravo. This wasanother filler match with where Duggan picked up the win. Afterwards, Duggan was taken out by Earthquake in yet another move to get him over.

A couple of brief clips were shown highlighting how these two came together. Both men then made their way to the ring, with Roberts gaining the early momentum. The match started off as a great psychological battle between the duo, which was quite back and forth.

Eventually, the match came to a conclusion when Roberts was counted out, which allowed DiBiase to pick up the win. Afterwards, Roberts went for both men. DiBiase was soon nailed with the DDT. This was an okay match, but it could have being a lot better.

Winner: Ted DiBiase, via Count-out

Match Rating: 1.5 out of 5.0 Stars

12. Akeem (w/ Slick) vs. The Big Boss Man

Akeem and Slick made their way to the ring before Boss Man made his way out. Boss Man was quickly attacked by DiBiase before entering the ring. Akeem was initially dominant over Boss Man who soon mounted a comeback for the win in a very dreary paced match.

Winner: The Big Boss Man

Match Rating: 0.5 out of 5.0 Stars

13. Rick Rude (w/ Bobby Heenan) vs. Jimmy Snuka

Both men made their way to the ring, with Rude being dominant over Snuka in the early moments. Snuka mounted a comeback with a series of signature moves to ground Rude. Eventually, Rude was able to pick up the win in a quick and uneventful match that was pretty much a waste of time.

We were shown a series of clips which highlighted the buildup between Hogan and Warrior, with Earthquake heavily involved. They appeared to be basing this around trust issues between the two.

The Ultimate Warrior makes his way to the ring to a nice reaction, followed by Hogan who received an even better reaction. The match began very slowly with tests of strength and endurance moves, before Hogan seemingly injured himself when he was thrown outside of the ring.

Warrior used this to his advantage, but Hogan was able to mount a comeback. Eventually, it became very back and forth. In the end, Warrior was able to pick up the win after Hogan missed the leg drop. This allowed Warrior to nail a big splash to a thunderous reaction.

After the match, Hogan proved himself a worthy loser as he handed the title to Warrior before leaving. Warrior then celebrated in the ring to bring the show to a close. Painfully slow match, but with a credible story told nonetheless.

Winner: The Ultimate Warrior, to capture the WWE Championship and retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship

Match Rating: 2.0 out of 5.0 Stars

WWE WrestleMania 6 Summary

One thing which can be taken away from this event was that many of the matches were unbelievably short, which ultimately wasted a shed load of time. The entrance carts taking superstars to the ring, wasted even more time. It made a simple entrance long, drawn out and a little bit dull. But also, there was far to many matches on this card for such a short time frame. There was several which could have being nixed or even combined to give something more credible.

In all honesty, this WrestleMania was exceptionally difficult to watch and maintain a level of interest in because there was far to much happening in a short period of time for it to be memorable. This isn’t one that comes with recommend viewing, it took four different attempts to get through it. Nevertheless, you don’t necessarily have to take WDD word for it. It can be viewed as part of you 9.99 subscription fee on the WWE Network!